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Neon vs Supabase
Short answer: Pick Neon if you want serverless Postgres with full backend suite; pick Supabase if you want Postgres-backed backend as a service. Neon has a free plan; Supabase has a free plan, paid from $25/month.
Which to pick
Pick Neon if you want…
- Serverless Postgres with full backend suite
- Serverless Postgres only
- Integrations with Better Auth, Databricks or pgBouncer (on Neon's list, not Supabase's)
Pick Supabase if you want…
- Postgres-backed backend as a service
- Open-source Postgres backend
- Open-source code (supabase/supabase on GitHub, Apache-2.0 license)
- Integrations with React, Next.js or Flutter (on Supabase's list, not Neon's)
Neon provides serverless Postgres instances only, without the auth, storage and functions that Supabase bundles.
Side by side
- What it is
- Neon:Neon provides a serverless Postgres database with built-in auth, object storage, functions and an AI gateway.
- Supabase:Supabase is an open-source platform that provides a hosted Postgres database with auth, realtime, storage, edge functions and vector search.
- Best for
- Neon:Serverless Postgres with full backend suite
- Supabase:Postgres-backed backend as a service
- Who it’s for
- Neon:Developers building apps or agents that need instant, branchable backends.
- Supabase:Developers building web, mobile or AI apps who need a full backend without managing servers.
- Pricing
- Neon:Freemium
- Supabase:Freemium
- Starting price
- Neon:—
- Supabase:$25/month (Pro)
- Free plan or trial
- Neon:Free plan (Free)
- Supabase:Free plan (Free)
- Plans
- Neon:Free $0
- Supabase:Free $0 · Pro $25 per month · Team $599 per month
- Open source
- Neon:—
- Supabase:Yes, 110,974 GitHub stars
- Works with
- Neon:Better Auth, Databricks, pgBouncer
- Supabase:React, Next.js, Flutter, Expo React Native, OpenAI, Hugging Face, Stripe
Neon features
- Serverless Postgres. Lakebase Postgres scales compute and storage independently and auto-scales in real time.
- Managed Auth. Fully-managed Better Auth integration provides free user authentication per database.
- Branchable Storage. S3-compatible object storage and database branches copy-on-write for isolated environments.
- Functions. Serverless functions run close to the database without timeouts.
- AI Gateway. Single API to access frontier and open-source models at cost-based rates.
- Autoscaling & Scale-to-Zero. Compute auto-adjusts to demand and scales to zero when idle, billed per CU-hour.
- High Availability & Read Replicas. Multi-AZ storage and read replicas are included on all plans.
- Extensions Library. Supports Postgres extensions such as pg_vector, PostGIS, TimescaleDB, etc.
Supabase features
- Managed Postgres. Each project gets its own dedicated Postgres instance with built-in Row Level Security.
- Authentication. User sign-up, login, social OAuth and MFA with automatic JWT handling.
- Realtime API. Live data synchronization for multiplayer or collaborative experiences.
- Edge Functions. Serverless functions that run close to the database without provisioning servers.
- Storage & CDN. File storage with 1 GB free, cached egress and basic CDN for serving assets.
- Vector Embeddings. Store, index and search vector embeddings via OpenAI or Hugging Face integrations.
- Instant REST/GraphQL APIs. Auto-generated APIs for any table, accessible via the client library.
- Dashboard & Tools. SQL/Table editors, RLS policy UI, log viewer and backup controls in a web console.
Neon vs Supabase FAQ
What is the difference between Neon and Supabase?+
Supabase offers an open-source Postgres platform but lacks built-in AI gateway and serverless functions bundled together. Neon provides serverless Postgres instances only, without the auth, storage and functions that Supabase bundles.
Should I use Neon or Supabase?+
Pick Neon if you want serverless Postgres with full backend suite, serverless Postgres only or integrations with Better Auth, Databricks or pgBouncer (on Neon's list, not Supabase's). Pick Supabase if you want Postgres-backed backend as a service, open-source Postgres backend or open-source code (supabase/supabase on GitHub, Apache-2.0 license).
Is Neon or Supabase free?+
Neon has a free plan and paid plans. Supabase has a free plan; paid plans start at $25/month (Pro).
Is Neon or Supabase open source?+
Supabase is open source (supabase/supabase on GitHub, Apache-2.0 license). DevHunt has no public source repository on record for Neon.
Do Neon and Supabase integrate with the same tools?+
Their integration lists don't overlap: Neon lists Better Auth, Databricks and pgBouncer; Supabase lists React, Next.js, Flutter, Expo React Native and 3 more.
On DevHunt
Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.